The Lombard name has become one of the more interesting threads running through the Yankees’ system, and it got even more complicated this month when George Lombard Jr. watched his younger brother come off the board 14 picks higher in the draft.
That’s the family setup now: three Lombards in pro baseball, three different organizations, and one father who taught them the game from inside it. George Lombard Sr. played for the Braves, Tigers, Rays and Nationals, and after a 144-game career he moved into coaching. He’s now the bench coach for the Tigers, which means the family’s baseball education came from a man whose job has long been to teach the sport to major leaguers.
For the Yankees, the name belongs to the player they drafted in the first round in 2023. Lombard Jr. went 26th overall out of Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, Florida, signed as an overslot pick, and is now the organization’s top prospect. He was born in Miami on June 2, 2005, and he’s 21.
His season has split into two very different chapters. At Double-A Somerset, he hit .312/.400/.571 with a .971 OPS, four home runs and 20 games’ worth of production that looked like a fast track. The Yankees moved him up in late April, and at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the numbers have been more modest: .231/.381/.385 with a .765 OPS and four more home runs across 42 games.
Even so, the approach has held. In 197 Triple-A plate appearances, Lombard Jr. has 35 walks and 42 strikeouts.
The average has dipped, the power has backed up, but the strike-zone judgment hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s also 5.1 years younger than the average International League player, which puts the production in a different light.
A 21-year-old reaching base at a .381 clip at that level isn’t disappearing; he’s absorbing the jump.
The scouting profile is still built around the same questions. He’s listed at 6-2 and 190 pounds, and the Yankees have him as a shortstop, second baseman and third baseman.
The fastball up in the zone has been the lingering issue. He entered the season ranked 27th on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects.
Then there’s the younger brother, Jacob Lombard, who gave the family another jolt on July 11 when the Marlins took him 14th overall. He was a shortstop at Gulliver Prep in the greater Miami area, had been committed to the University of Miami, and is now positioned to become the third Lombard to skip college and go straight into pro ball.
The evaluation on Jacob wasn’t built on the family name. Before the draft, he was viewed as one of the top five prospects in the class and the second-best prep hitter available.
He’s already the same size as his older brother and projects for more power. Scouts questioned the arm.
They did not question the bat.
The strongest line on the family came from Brian Murphy of MLB.com, who wrote: “Jacob Lombard might be the best ballplayer in the family,”
Jacob has also been open about what it would mean to share a field with George. Before the draft, he said, “I’m thinking so far ahead in terms of a possibility of playing with my brother, hitting a home run and rounding second and smiling at him while he’s at shortstop,” Jacob Lombard said. “That is something I smile about going to bed every single night.”
After Miami picked him, he widened the idea even further. “Recently, it hit me that my brother and I have an opportunity to play on the same field at a high level,” Jacob Lombard said.
“Whether it’s big leagues, minor leagues, if you ask me, it’s going to be the big leagues at one point or another. Eventually, we’ll be on the same field.
Maybe playing together, maybe playing against each other.”
The Yankees have already seen the family in the same orbit before. In spring training action in 2024, Lombard Sr. was in the Tigers dugout while his son was in a Yankees uniform on the other side.
Now the organization’s shortstop situation carries a little extra weight. The Yankees are 54-42 and second in the AL East behind Tampa Bay at 56-38. Anthony Volpe’s production has frustrated the fan base for two seasons, and the club’s answer at shortstop is the same player whose brother just went 14 picks earlier in the draft.
There’s also the trade angle, whether the Yankees want to talk about it or not. Lombard Jr. is their best trade chip, and that’s exactly why his name comes up in deadline speculation. A 21-year-old Triple-A shortstop with Top 100 pedigree and a .381 on-base percentage is the kind of asset contenders ask about.
The Yankees have not said they plan to move him, and nothing has been reported about an offer involving him.
For now, Miami has its shortstop of the future, Detroit has the father, and the Yankees have the eldest son at Triple-A, a 7-day IL stint, and a decision they haven’t had to make yet.
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